Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1920 1779

Page 4 Text:

PRESTO
PRESTO
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT 407 SOUTH DEAR-
BORN STREET, OLD COLONY BUILDING, CHICAGO, Editors
ILL.
C A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234. Private Phones to all De-
partments. Cable Address (Commercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1806, a t the Post Office, Chicago, Illinois,
under Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
Payable in advance. No extra
charge in U. S. possessions. Canada, Cuba and Mexico.
Address all communications for the editorial or business departments to PRESTO
PUBLISHING CO., 407 So. Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
Advertising Rates:—Five dollars per inch (13 ems pica) for single insertions.
Complete schedule of rates for standing cards and special displays will be furnished
on request. The Presto does not sell its editorial space. Payment is not accepted for
articles of descriptive character or other matter appearing in the news columns. Busi-
ness notices will be indicated by the word "advertisement" in accordance with the
Act of August 24, 1912.
Rates for advertising in Presto Year Book Issue and Export Supplements of
Presto will be made known upon application. Presto Year Book and Export issues
have the most extensive circulation of any periodicals devoted to the musical in-
strument trades and industries in all parts of the world, and reach completely and
effectually all the houses handling musical instruments of both the Eastern and West-
ern hemispheres.
Presto Buyers' Guide is the only reliable index to the American Pianos and
Player-Pianos, it analyzes all instruments, classifies them, gives accurate estimates
of their value and contains a directory of their manufacturers.
Items of news and other matter of general interest to the music trades are in-
vited and when accepted will be paid for. All communications should be addressed to
Presto Publishing Co., 407 So. Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1920.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
PRESTO IS ALWAYS GLAD TO RECEIVE NEWS OF THE
TRADE—ALL KINDS OF NEWS EXCEPT PERSONAL SLANDER
AND STORIES OF PETTY MISDEEDS BY INDIVIDUALS. PRESTO
WILL PRINT THE NAMES OF CORRESPONDENTS WHO SEND IN
•'GOOD STUFF" OR ARE ON THE REGULAR STAFF. DON'T SEND
ANY PRETTY SKETCHES, LITERARY ARTICLES OR "PEN-PIC-
TURES." JUST PLAIN NEWS ABOUT THE TRADE—NOT ABOUT
CONCERTS OR AMATEUR MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENTS, BUT
ABOUT THE MEN WHO MAKE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND
THOSE WHO SELL THEM. REPORTS OF NEW STORES AND
THE MEN WHO MAKE RECORDS AS SALESMEN ARE GOOD. OF-
TEN THE PIANO SALESMEN ARE THE BEST CORRESPONDENTS
BECAUSE THEY KNOW WHAT THEY LIKE TO READ AND HAVE
THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FINDING OUT WHAT IS "DOING" IN
THE TRADE IN THEIR VICINITY. SEND IN THE N E W S -
ALL YOU CAN GET OF IT—ESPECIALLY ABOUT YOUR OWN
BUSINESS.
ORDERS DEFERRED
The somewhat novel proposition by Mr. Mark P. Campbell, of
the Brambach Piano Co., was one of the features in last week's
Presto. The originality of it was discussed in these columns and
very general interest was evinced in the trade. It had been widely
understood that the piano dealers labored under the mistaken idea
that prices were likely to drop at any time, and that, by withholding
orders till later, advantage might be taken of the presumptive decline.
Mr. Campbell very effectively obliterated the ill-advised notion, and
made his assurance stronger by guaranteeing dealers against any loss
by reason of a price decline during this year. No reasoning man
could hesitate, or hold back orders for fall and winter supplies, after
reading the offer of the president of the Brambach Piano Co.
Since Mr. Campbell's unique message was issued, a number of
the other alert piano manufacturers have fallen into line and given
the same assurance to their customers. They have told their repre-
sentatives that the offer made by the New York gentleman will be,
in effect, duplicated by the same terms and conditions. So that it
is not probable that the trade will withhold orders on any basis of
decline in prices this year.
But there is another cause for the hesitation in placing orders
which has marked the trade this summer. It is that the impression
exists very generally that there are no instruments to be had. There-
fore, reason the dealers, what is the use of ordering? That is another
mistake. It is, of course, due to the fact that a few months ago the
condition intimated really did exist. The factories were denuded of
stock, and in New York the industries had been tied up by a pro-
longed strike. It was, therefore, a common thing for dealers to
frantically call for what they could not get. The western piano fac-
tories could not supply the demands of the entire nation. Dealers
came to Chicago, from East as well as West, seeking for the instru-
ments absolutely needed to supply customers who, in many instances,
had actually paid for the pianos in advance, hoping thereby to hasten
the deliveries. Instances of that kind came directly to the notice of
August 28, 1920.
this paper, and many requests came from reliable dealers in the hope
that we might help them to find finished stock.
Naturally the notion that instruments were impossible to get,
still sticks to the trade in a large degree. But, as a matter of fact,
instruments are now comparatively easy to secure. Within a week
this paper has had attention drawn to large numbers of unusually
attractive pianos and players, in factory warerooms, ready to be
shipped on orders. Things, with respect to piano supplies, are again
approaching normal. It is true that it is still difficult for the player
action makers to secure the smaller metal parts, in the quantities
needed, but as a rule the condition has so fer improved that finished
instruments are coming through satisfactorily. If dealers do not
know how and where to turn for the instruments they need, they
may imagine that it isn't worth while placing their orders. And so
the manufacturers are blocked in their productiveness at the very
time when the cry is that production is insufficient.
There are instruments to be had—good ones. Your regular
source of supplies will tell you so. If there is a lsck of some special
case designs, a little salesmanship may overcome that. But, in view
of what has been said, and especially in view of what Mr. Mark P.
Campbell said last week, there is no reason for withholding orders.
And certainly, in view of the general prosperity, there is no reason
why this should not be a season brimming over with business for
the piano trade.
PHILADELPHIA PIANOS
Doesn't it seem a little strange that the first American "piano
town" is today pretty nearly at the foot of the class, in point of
musical instrument manufacture? Philadelphia is, probably cor-
rectly, credited with being the birthplace of the first American piano.
According to tradition, the instrument bore the name of Meyer, and
it was, of course, a little square, with almost as many spindle legs
as a centipede. And after the first Philadelphia piano, there followed
many more, until the seat of our first national capital became a
genuine center of the early music industries.
There could be no more entertaining chapter in any piano history
than the one which would tell of the beginnings of the industry in
Philadelphia. And there would be references to some remarkable
men in that chapter, from the first down to the late Col. Grey, whose
stormy career was so closely interwoven with the one-time famous
Schomacker piano, now almost a memory—though it is still in the
market in a retail way. There was a time when the Schomacker am-
bition reached out and, when Chicago was a town of about 200,000
people, a leading piano store on Clark street not only bore the Phila-
delphia name, but was under the personal management of a son of
the Schomacker piano's founder.
Today Philadelphia cuts a small figure in the American piano
industry. Even the comparatively few instruments produced there
are sold at retail by their manufacturers. And the most conspicuous
piano maker in Philadelphia today is known as the "merchant prince,"
whose fortune has rolled in through the doors of a department store.
His big stores sell other pianos than his own, also; in fact, his leaders
are from other factories, and probably Philadelphians in most cases
do not know that any of the instruments on display are from factories
controlled by the local merchant. Outside of that store, the pianos
are no more seen and, naturally, the once great value of their name
and good will has been lost.
And so Philadelphia has permitted her place to slip away. The
few remaining piano industries there are content to do a local busi-
ness. One of the industries, of more than local distinction, is owned
by a piano man who prefers the retail end of it and, having the repu-
tation of being an honest scrapper, he bristles with aggressiveness
and won't permit his competitors to do any more business than seems
to him good for the Cunningham piano.
It is true that Philadelphia has the name of being a sluggish
town of large size. Usually you can cross the street in the middle of
a block without lifting your eyes from your newspaper. The vehicles
obey the traffic regulations. So do the piano advertisements. The
old-time riot in the piano store windows has subsided. No longer
does a piano dealer in Philadelphia stick signs in his front window
declaring his neighbor to be a blackleg and his instruments the lowest
of imitations. All that has gone. And with the subsidence of the
window signs, made famous first by Col. Grey, the life of the local
trade seems to have died down till the degree of sub-normal respecta-
bility hovers over Chestnut street, and no rasping challenge is any
longer heard. The old-time fiction that citizens used to loiter around
the corner of Eleventh and Chestnut, to settle bets as to which end
of disgruntled customers would hit the pavement first, no longer
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
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Page 5 Text:

PRESTO
August 28, 1920.
inspires interest. The customers still come and go on Chestnut street,
but their ingress and exit are as decorous and secure as on Fifth
avenue, New York, or Wabash avenue, Chicago.
So far as concerns the piano industry, Philadelphia deserves her
reputation for staid and solemn calm. Where once the piano indus-
try was active, today it is nearly nil. Probably no piano man lacking
in ancient history of the American piano could be made to believe
that the first American instrument was made in Philadelphia. Cer-
tainly no one seems to care to make many pianos in Philadelphia
today, unless the recently established Overbrook Piano Co. gets
going quickly, as we suspect it will, for it has made a good start and
is conducted by piano men of ambition and experience. And it will
seem to many in the trade that "Overbrook" presents a pleasing
change in piano nomenclature.
TRADE MARK PIRACY
An item this week, from a New York newspaper, contains a
warning to American piano manufacturers whose ambitions extend
beyond the borders of their own country. It also presents a con-
dition which not only makes interesting reading to the retailers, but
suggests again the almost incalculable value of a good trade mark.
The item adds strength to the precaution to manufacturers, by
giving a long list of trade names which have actually been stolen by
the sharp-witted pirates in other lands. Among the names are those
originated or adapted by so varied a lot of industries as to be of
curious interest.
Of course the trade mark pirates probably do not always know
just what some of the names signify, nor do they care. They only
know that the names have value over here which, in the crush of in-
ternational travel, must also imply great values afar off. For in-
stance, there is the word "Delco," which has been cribbed and reg-
istered in Sweden. The word is a compound of three propsr names,
with the abbreviation of "Company" as the terminal. The word has
been employed by a chain of Chicago restaurants, and it is com-
posed of the initials of the three organizers of those cheap eating
houses. So with some other of the pirated names.
But most of the pirated trade marks are those of individual
manufacturers, or proper names which have been made valuable by
their energies and enterprises. There are not many names sugges-
tive of the music industry in the list, but there are some of them,,
as all who are familiar with the subject will recognize.
It is safe to say that not many of the powerful piano industries
in this country have neglected to protect their trade names abroad.
If the cost of protecting American piano trade marks, in this coun-
try alone, were to be carefully computed, it would be seen why the
good will of a great name is inventoried at, in some cases, hun-
THIS GOOD ADV. WRITER
FORGOT SOMETHING
Cunningham Piano Co. States a Fact, but in
Setting It Forth Neglects Its Own
Wise Admonition.
The house of Cunningham in Philadelphia has the
reputation of getting up some model advertisements
for retail piano selling. But in a recent type display
there seems to be a singular contradiction between
statement and fact. See if this is not so. Here is
the advertisement:
We always believe in talking common sense to
our customers. To begin with, when we say to a
buyer a piano is worth the price we are selling it at
or more, we know what we are talking about; we
should know, as that is our business, piano making
and selling. We have no other business to attract
or detract our attention. We should know, we
ought to know and we do know a piano.
In looking over the list of August piano sales,
we found a matchless Cunningham piano among
others. The dealers advertised it as a great bargain
at $225. Our curiosity was aroused and we sent to
look the instrument over. The piano is numbered
18752, and had been sold by us to a Mr. Robert C.
Gorman, 304 East Broad street, Burlington, N. J.,
for $280, it having been rented for concert purposes
for some time previous to its sale, which was March
18, 1903, which is now over 17 years. In the opin-
ion of the dealers it only reduced in value $55 in all
that time. However, it speaks well for the quality of
the instrument. We don't know a piano made in
this or any other country that will stand the wear
dreds of thousands of dollars. As a matter of fact, there are Ameri-
can piano names so valuable that they almost, if not quite, exceed
the estimated worth of mammoth material assets.
There is no piano name that is without a considerable cash
value. The pirates abroad may not always select names of great
instruments. They, without doubt, often take liberties with names
merely because they possess the charm of sound and sight. They
may be in themselves musical, and of a kind easily popularized any-
where. So that, no matter how little progress a piano may have
made at home, it is the part of wisdom to seek protection to guard
against the pirates later along, when the world may have found out
that such an instrument exists.
It is not often that the older industries need such a warning as
the New York newspaper article suggests. The newer ones do
need it. And, whether new or old, every industry doing business
under a trade mark name should insure its property before the pi-
rates abroad get busy with it. It is a simple matter in advance,
whereas later it may be impossible to recover from the effects cf lack
cf foresight or slipshod neglect of self interests.
Housing of employes and their families is not worrying piano
manufacturers much, as most of the plants are located where there
are no booms in population and the residents are permanent inhabi-
tants. Very little piano manufacturing is done in such booming
cities as Detroit or Los Angeles. As a nation, however, we are short
of houses. Senator W. M. Calder of New York, chairman of the
Senate Committee of Production and Reconstruction, says there is
a shortage of at least one million homes in the United States, as
ascertained through questionnaires submitted to all the larger cities.
The committee will report to the senate in December.
* * *
Good crops have a direct bearing on prosperity for the piano
business. Pennsylvania has great crops of apples and peaches this
year—many millions of bushels of each, besides a great crop of pears.
And as for Kansas, that wonderful state has the second largest crop
of wheat in its history this year, and the Kansas corn crop promises
to be the lergest in five years, according to the monthly crop report
issued last Friday by the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, based
on announcements made August 14.
Governor Cox, democratic candidate for the presidency, is a music
lover. He believes that municipalities should encourage it. And
Senator Harding, republican candidate, is equally a musical enthusi-
ast. More than that, he once played a cornet in the town band. So
that both candidates are different from some of the earlier presidents,
at least one of whom declared he knew but two tunes, one of which
was Yankee Doodle, and the other he had forgotten.
and tear of constant use and hold its tune, its ap-
pearance, and its value so well.
To make the foregoing text the more effective, two
displayed "wings" are employed, each of which de-
clares that "It Pays to Think." And it seems prob-
able that the writer of the advertisement himself
forgot to think that his statement about piano val-
ues is not conclusive, as applied to the old instru-
ment sold in 1903.
In 1903 pianos had touched the very bottomless
pit. Instruments which were then sold for $280
could not be had for much, if any, less than double
that sum today. The same piano sold now for $225
doesn't represent a decline in price of only $55. It
is more nearly a drop of $250, which would make
the sale of the good old Cunningham, at the figures
named, about right.
And why does the Cunningham Piano Co. say that
"We are the only piano manufacturers in Pennsyl-
vania se'ling from factory to home direct"? Are
the other Pennsylvania piano manufacturers in the
habit of turning their backs to their fellow citizens
who clamor for instruments to be delivered "from
factorv to home direct"? We can't believe it.
READY IN NEW STORE.
The W. F. Frederick Piano Co. is calling atten-
tion to a new shipment of pianos and players re-
ceived at its new branch store in the Pollins Build-
ing, Greensburg, Pa., and adds: "Our new store
on Main street affords the piano customer a real
place to make a selection; as many as fifty pianos
and players will be carried in stock in our Pollins
Building location. The time is here when you can
get real service in your purchase of cither a piano,
playcrpiano or genuine Victrola. All Greensburg
and Westmoreland County are welcoming the best
equipped music store in this state. Everything in
music."
SALES OF USED PIANOS
KEEP PORTLAND, ORE., LIVELY
Upright, Grand and Players Included in Range of
Instruments Offered at Attractive Prices.
The Bush & Lane Piano Co., Portland, Ore., has
announced its great annual clearance sale of used
upright, grand and playerpianos. The sale is now
on and includes some of the very best makes. These
pianos are offered at very attractive prices, with a
guarantee to exchange the same at any time within
six months for a new piano of equal or higher price,
allowing the entire amount paid as a credit on the
new instrument.
The Reed-French Piano Co., Portland, Ore., is
having a clearance sale of used pianos which the firm
is "offering at wonderful values impossible to he
found elsewhere." The sale includes many fine
standard makes. The firm guarantees every piano
is in first-class repair and offers them at reasonably
small payments down and allows two years to pay
the balance.
Sherman, Clay & Co.'s branch in Portland, Ore., is
featuring a couple of player rolls—the waltz, "Memo-
ries of Virginia," and the fox trot, ''Oh! By Jingo!
Ob! Bv Gee!"
C. F. L. RICHTER DIES.
Charles F. L. Kichter, president of the Richter
Mfg. Co., a string musical instrument concern at
2532 Irving Park boulevard, Chicago, died last week.
Mr. Richter was a Mason and a Shriner. He was
rn artive member of perhaps a dozen fraternal or-
ganizations. Me was a member of the Illinois leg-
islature in I 1 -09. lie was born in Germany April
30, 1853. and came to America in 1883.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
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